


Half-Full

by legendofthesevenstars



Series: Xenoblade Femslash Week 2021 [2]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendofthesevenstars/pseuds/legendofthesevenstars
Summary: Fiora and Melia put on cheerful, confident guises for others, but they don't have to pretend around each other.
Relationships: Melia Ancient | Melia Antiqua/Fiora
Series: Xenoblade Femslash Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151192
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Xenoblade Femslash Week 2021





	Half-Full

**Author's Note:**

> For the Xenoblade Femslash Week prompt, "Post-Battle."
> 
> CW: discussion of death and mortality, Fiora's apathy toward/acceptance of her death

Fiora was dying. She’d said it herself, and Melia knew it was true. Her Mechon body was even frailer than before. She walked slower, and her hands and arms trembled more. But even though she was growing weaker, she insisted on helping everyone else fend off the Telethia Dickson unleashed on Colony 6.

She was still nimble and strong, striking deftly with her twin blades. Rather than keeping her lightning bolts and flames summoned to help Fiora, Melia could quickly discharge them, and when her inner ether peaked, she purged the Telethia’s aura. Sharla and Riki were patching everyone up, though they didn’t have much to do. Dunban and Fiora drew the most attention with their flashy maneuvers and strong blows, but they were too quick to get hit.

They’d nearly fended off the Telethia with their combined strength before Shulk even joined the fray. He looked strong and healthy, as if he’d never been wounded in the first place. Reyn and Fiora insisted on him returning to bed as soon as they got back, and Sharla, too, advised him to get more rest. Melia laughed along with Dunban and snuck a quick glance at Fiora. Her red Healing Energy was beginning to fade. She’d folded her arms tightly and leaned against the colony wall.

“Everybody ready to head back?” Shulk asked.

“You guys go ahead. I need a moment to catch my balance,” Fiora said.

He frowned. “Are you okay?”

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Sharla asked.

She waved her hand. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I just worked a little harder than I should’ve.”

Melia looked over at Dunban. Reyn and Sharla were looking at him, too. He only nodded and said, “Just don’t fall too far behind.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

Melia stayed silent, holding back her sigh. After the effort she’d put into that battle, there was no way Fiora was going to be all right.

Everyone else walked back into the colony, Shulk leading the way. Melia stayed slightly behind, waiting until they were chatting among themselves, then she turned around and walked back to the main gate, against which Fiora was leaning.

“Fiora?” she said as she approached.

Fiora slowly opened her eyes, her dark eyelashes fluttering slightly, making Melia’s heart skip. “Go with them, Melia. I’ll be fine.”

“Even if your wounds are invisible, I know you are still suffering.”

The afternoon was so still that Melia heard Fiora’s breath tremble with her gasp. Fiora lowered her gaze to the ground, lashes shadowing her green eyes, and her sad, false smile, quivering at the corners, threatened to turn into a frown.

“I guess I don’t disguise it as well as I think.”

“What, precisely, ails you?”

Fiora pointed to her elbows and then her knees. “My joints are sore from overuse. I thought they just needed to be oiled, but it could be a sign of a larger functional breakdown.”

Melia concentrated, feeling her inner ether build up inside her core. Then she placed her hands on Fiora’s elbows, and the energy surged through her and into Fiora’s mechanical frame. She bent to touch each knee, and focused again, letting her ether flow into Fiora’s joints before she stood up again.

Fiora bent her elbows and flexed each knee. “Thank you.”

Melia’s cheeks warmed. “You are welcome.”

She stood up and settled in beside Fiora. The sky was vast and blue, and the dry grass rustled in the breeze. The ether in the atmosphere felt thicker than honey, and it was enough to make her head hurt. She still wasn’t convinced that she would really be spared of the fate that Kallian and Lorithia had met.

“Now you know,” Fiora said suddenly.

Melia turned to look at her. “To what do you refer?”

“That I don’t have long left. I can hardly sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night shivering, and I’m constantly aching. I just hurt all over.”

“Might it help if I heal you periodically? At different times of the day, perhaps?”

“Melia, you shouldn’t give your own ether for that!”

“But an ether deficiency as severe as yours may kill you in days, if not hours! I have promised to keep your situation a secret. So you must allow me to keep you alive.”

“Do you really…?” Fiora shook her head. She laughed, bitter and short. A chill ran down Melia’s spine, but at the same time, her stomach twisted with anxiety. “Would you really risk your life just to have me here a little longer?”

“It seems logical to me. You are happiest with Shulk, Dunban, and the others. Therefore, if I help sustain your life, you may continue to spend time with them without expending too much energy or revealing the painful secret of your impending fate.”

Fiora smiled sadly. “You make it sound so easy. And it’s tough for me to say no when I see the look in your eyes.” Her lashes still shadowed her eyes. “I think most people would call someone like you naive. But I’d call it optimism.

“Before I died, I was a lot like you. I always thought my days would be happy. I thought life was so simple. The only thing I had to worry about was the Mechon, and whether the people I loved would be okay. But once I died and came to the Mechonis, everything changed. There’s so much more I understand about the world and about myself.”

Melia hummed. “So, why not stay alive as long as possible?” Before Fiora could respond, she continued, “If you have realized how much you truly enjoy life, why live as if you are waiting for death to take you in its clutches? Are you not still an optimist, in spite of everything?”

“What makes you so sure I am?”

“If you were not an optimist, you would not continue to be so eager and cheerful when faced with such an insurmountable and terrifying prospect as death. Though your last days approach, you have shown nothing but a happy face to everyone around you. Though you lost Meyneth and Shulk nearly died, your determination did not falter. Your will to survive speaks to your incredible resilience and resolve. Most of all…” She breathed in, hesitating only a moment before she set her hand on Fiora’s shoulder. “Though I have lost nearly everything, my optimism—the hope that the future will be brighter—encourages me to continue.”

They were silent for a moment. Melia removed her hand from Fiora’s shoulder and laced her hands behind her back. Fiora still stared at the grass, every blink slow and seemingly deliberate.

Finally, she lifted her head and turned to face Melia. “So you want me to live to see your bright future?”

“That is part of it. I know how distraught everyone would be without your presence. In all honesty, if I lost you, I would also…” She sighed. “A world without the sunshine of your optimism would be dismally gloomy.”

Fiora smiled again. It was starting to look more genuine and less false. “You think so?”

“I am certain of it. We all benefit from your cheer and strength.”

Fiora’s gloom seemed to melt, and her cheeks flushed from pink to red. “Thank you, Melia. You’re so kind and sweet. If I’m feeling down, I’ll let you know so you can pick me right up again.”

“Naturally,” Melia blurted, suddenly feeling flustered.

“And if you’re ever down, I’ll be there to comfort you. You can count on me. Right until the very end.”

“I graciously accept your offer of support.”

—

One by one, everyone followed Shulk into the black wisp of ether that transported them from the inside of the Bionis to Prison Island. Melia was the last to leave. Shulk led the way up the stairs, but Fiora stayed behind and waited until she was sure Melia had arrived.

As the Telethia had slowly dissolved into raw ether, Lorithia had groaned about losing her body, and Melia had told her it was her destiny. The Telethia had exploded into a burst of bright white ether. Fiora had shut her eyes, and Melia had cried for Kallian. She’d heard her brother’s voice, but the only other person who’d heard him was Riki.

Melia wasn’t hanging her head at all. Her head was pointed firmly toward the horizon, and her blue eyes blazed with confidence. Fiora’s functioning heart clenched. Before Melia could continue walking, Fiora caught her by the sleeve.

Melia flinched, turning to her. “Oh, Fiora. Is something the matter?”

“Are you going to be all right?”

She nodded. “Yes. I understand my duty fully now. I can make it to the end.” Relaxing her posture slightly, she turned to face Fiora, frowning. “But are you all right? The battle against the Telethia was not easy. Your body must be hurting.”

“Melia—” Fiora made an exasperated noise. Clutching her sleeve tighter, she leaned in. “How can you still worry about _me_ after what just happened to _you_?”

Melia averted her eyes, her white cheeks turning slightly pink. A gear clicked in Fiora’s chest, and her core unit ached. “Grieving now would be selfish. There will be time, later.”

“Why not take time _now_?”

Melia furrowed her brow. “Fiora, do you think I am so weak that I cannot continue fighting after a life is lost?”

“But he was your _brother_!” she cried, grabbing Melia’s other sleeve and shaking her lightly. “If something happened to Dunban, I’d—I’d be—” She swallowed, trying to dam the tears that threatened to rise just thinking about it. “Or what if something happened to one of us? To me? What then?”

“I cannot spare endless hours wallowing in my grief,” Melia said firmly. “I have a duty not only to my people, but to all of you. I cannot drag the group down with my own selfish actions. You should not waste your time trying to comfort me.”

“But you would do the same for _me_.”

Melia’s eyes widened, and she gasped. Her lower lip trembled for a moment before she offered a sad smile, a sad smile Fiora knew all too well on her own face and on Melia’s.

“That is undeniable.” She bowed her head, her eyes shadowed by her pale gray eyelashes, and lifted her hands to wrench Fiora’s hands free from her cloak. Fiora withdrew her hands and dropped them to her sides. “I would do the same for you.”

Fiora lowered her head, wringing her hands. Melia’s healing had helped keep her going, and so had the thought of letting her down by not being the sunbeam that everyone expected her to be. Now she knew, more than ever, how much of a hypocrite Melia had been, that she was hiding her pain to make everyone think she was strong enough to bear her burdens alone. But she didn’t hate her for it. Melia was like a strange mirror in which Fiora saw the reticence she hated in herself reflected. But she also saw a mirror image of her optimism and courage, the traits she loved not just in herself, but in Melia.

“Do you hate me for it?” Melia said finally. “Because I criticized the same about you?”

“I could never hate you.” Fiora lifted her head and took a step closer.

Melia raised her head and met her eyes. When she blinked, her bright blue eyes, still wet with sorrow, disappeared beneath her pale eyelids, and her gray eyelashes clumped with tears. A single tear left a wet trail down her cheek, and her lower lip started to tremble, her face mottling red.

“I could never hate you either,” Melia said. A sob shook her body like a hiccup, and then again. She buried her flushed face in the crook of Fiora’s half-metal, half-organic neck. Placing her hand between Melia’s shoulderblades, Fiora stared at the red clouds beyond the stairs. She didn’t think about Kallian’s death, or her own impending death, or their upcoming confrontation with Zanza. Instead, she was thinking about how difficult it had always been to voice what she’d really felt, because everyone expected her to go through life with the same smile that had occupied her face since childhood.


End file.
